Fonds

Born in Quebec City, John Racey (1809-1847) was the son of John Racey, a Quebec City brewer, and Sarah Robinson. He studied medicine in Montreal and then in Edinburgh, where he worked at the Cholera Hospital as a surgeon. Returning to Montreal in 1833, he taught anatomy and surgery for two years at the McGill University Faculty of Medicine, founded four years earlier. That same year, he also married Susannah Withington Wise (1814-1883), the daughter of Joseph Wise (about 1786-1816), a Quebec City merchant born in Croydon, England, and Margaret Robinson (about 1791-?). The couple had five children: John, who also became a physician, Susanna Cooke, Margaret Sarah, Joseph Robert and George Wise.

In 1835, John Racey returned to Quebec City to practise medicine. He went into practice with Dr. James Douglas in 1846. During the summer of 1847, Quebec City was hit by a typhus epidemic brought over by new immigrants suffering from the fever. The disease claimed thousands of victims, especially among the Irish immigrant population. Working in the Marine and Emigrant Hospital and the nearby temporary sheds, Dr. Racey treated between 500 and 600 patients per day. Like many people who tended the sick, he himself contracted typhus and died in October of the same year.